New to Caves: Add to gear or buy new set?

[mdwalter]

Hi, I’m getting into cave diving and excited as Hells Bells. I own all my main OW gear but will move to sidemount.

My question is if I should just add another Stage I & II and an SPG to my existing setup or just buy a whole new set that’s made (marketed?) specifically for sidemount.

While I’m asking in general for future viewers of this post, I’m using:
- Regulator: Zeagle Envoy II (5 hp ports, no swivel)
- Console (SPG, compass)
- Shearwater Computer & Transmitter

I’m considering adding one Apeks XTX50/DTS (or another Zeagle to match for ease during service) and use my existing console + transmitter — or if I should just buy the set that includes 2 of everything, meaning ending up with extra gear that I probably won’t use anymore. Once I go SM, I’ll try to do my future vacation fun dives with this same setup.

Has anyone else had this dilemma? I’m trying to keep the additional expenditure down so any thoughts would be appreciated!

If you want to save money, buy another first stage of the same type you already have, pull the SPG out of the console and put the rest of the console in the back of your garage or under your bed. Get 2 6" HP hoses and a second SPG, move one of your second stages to the new first stage, and install the 2 SPGs (one on each first stage with the 6" hoses).
This will leave you without a single tank BM reg set, but you can always buy that in the future (including a normal SPG on a long enough hose, NOT another console) when you have some cash again. In the meantime, you can muddle through by switching out the second stage and HP hose on one of your SM regs to support single BM.

If your goal is to have both configs right away, then just buy a full set of SM regs right away, then pull that old SPG out of the console, leaving it on the long HP hose (and throw the rest away).

As for harnesses, it is possible to use a BP/Wing with SM (and even possible to SM in stab jacket BCD), but not recommended for newbie. Get a real SM harness, like XDeep or DiveRite, and learn on it.